We made a trip back to SoCal in August and visited one of our favorite honey vendors, Bennett's in Fillmore. This is another entry in my series of varietal meads with Bennett's honeys and Lalvin 71B-1122 wine yeast. I firmly maintain that California orange blossom is the best around and far superior to Florida's; and yes, I laughed when I recently realized that I'm now a person who has firm opinions about honey varietals. This is light amber with a pronounced, but thoroughly natural floral orange nose. The Florida varietals I've tried smelled like someone dumped in orange water to me.

Here's Turtleneck and Chain for you. Go watch it again.

Ingredients in this batch

  • 2.75 lbs Bennett's orange blossom honey
  • ½ tsp Carlson yeast nutrient
  • ½ tsp Carlson yeast energizer
  • ¼ batch Lalvin 1122 yeast, rehydrated

Process

I made this mead on 11/11. The process for all of these varietal meads is a standard "dump it all in a carboy and pitch the yeast" affair. To be honest, I'm not even bothering to read gravity on all of them; they should all be starting around 1.1.

I bottled this batch, along with a small army of others, on 3/27/19. The orange blossom is ultra distinct and gorgeous in this; if I can devise a sparkling version of this some day, it may become one of my go-tos. I love it.